This application relates generally to receiver circuits and, in particular to a CATV tuner with a frequency plan and architecture that allows the entire receiver, including the filters, to be integrated onto a single integrated circuit.
Radio receivers, or tuners, are widely used in applications requiring the reception of electromagnetic energy. Applications can include broadcast receivers such as radio and television, set top boxes for cable television, receivers in local area networks, test and measurement equipment, radar receivers, air traffic control receivers, and microwave communication links among others. Transmission of the electromagnetic energy may be over a transmission line or by electromagnetic radio waves.
The design of a receiver is one of the most complex design tasks in electrical engineering. In the current state of the art, there are many design criteria that must be considered to produce a working radio receiver. Tradeoffs in the design""s performance are often utilized to achieve a given objective. There are a multitude of performance characteristics that must be considered in designing the receiver. However, certain performance characteristics are common to all receivers. Distortion and noise are two such parameters. The process of capturing the signal creates distortion that must be accounted for in the design of the radio receiver. Once a radio signal is captured, the noise surrounding the received signal in the receiver must be considered. Radio signals are often extremely weak and if noise is present in the circuit, the signal, even though satisfactorily received, can be easily lost in this noise floor. The current state of the art in receiver design is often directed to overcoming these receiver limitations in a cost effective manner.
There is therefore provided in a present embodiment of the invention a method of tuning a receiver that maintains a signal output from the receiver during the tuning process. The process comprises selecting a channel to be tuned, tuning that channel to approximately a desired first intermediate frequency by a frequency source that is adjustable in coarse steps. And tuning the channel at the first intermediate frequency to a second intermediate frequency by a frequency source that is adjustable in fine steps.
Many of the attendant features of this invention will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference symbols designate like parts throughout.